Abstract

The authors study the effect of temperature on two-dimensional (2D) colloidal assembly subjected to an alternating electric field (AEF). At high frequencies , an increase in temperature leads to an increase in the upper cutoff frequency of the assembly, consistent with an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) mechanism. At low frequencies , the authors observe a crossover frequency at which the behavior of the temperature dependence changes, suggesting a change in the origin of the EHD mechanism. By controlling the temperature and the AEF, the authors develop a method to finely tune the equilibrium distance of the 2D colloidal assembly over a wide range.